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Educational Utopia
Experience Provides Teachers with a Foundation for Sharing Knowledge
FIS can be likened to an Educational Utopia. The learning community, to which our children belong, pur-
sues academic, social and emotional excellence through the quality of its teachers and their commitment to stu- dents. At FIS, teachers encourage students to share what they know so that they can guide them to the next academic level.
With a desire for academic excellence that extends beyond just the acquisition of knowledge, teachers at FIS expose students to various methods of learning. They are encouraged to pursue experiences that complement their discipline’s expertise, which ultimately benefits their students.
FIS Upper School Science teacher Liza Gorkiewicz recently returned from a year-long sabbatical during which she sailed across the Pacific Ocean and volunteered at the Wildtracks Primate and Manatee Rehabilitation Centre in Belize. In the months it took to sail from the Bahamas to Tahiti, Ms. Gorkiewicz dove with sharks along the Coral Reef in Fakarava; surfed along the mountainous coast of Haapiti, Moorea; and explored the Galapagos Islands.
Coupling personal experience with higher education and expertise, Ms. Gorkiewicz is one of FIS’s own “Indiana Jones.” Sailing across the Pacific Ocean provided her with an opportunity to visit indigenous people on various islands along the way. It also provided her with an insight into the effects of climate change, the environment and the people it supports. For example, minor changes in temperatures can create more frequent hurricanes and rough water, resulting in adverse effects on island vegetation, marine food supplies and sailor safety.
In addition to using her experiences in an educational sense, Ms. Gorkeiwicz also shares stories of her amazing trip.
During one of her classes when a student asked about the intelligence of octopi, she related an incident of a fellow diver whose GoPro camera and arm were temporarily held hostage by a cornered octopus in an underwater cave.
With a desire for academic excellence that extends beyond just the acquisition of knowledge, teachers at FIS expose students to various methods of learning.
The deep knowledge base at FIS also provides younger students an opportunity to observe, gain knowledge and create understanding for themselves. Last year, Grade 3 teachers and the Upper School’s science department collaborated on a lesson surrounding the Unit of Inquiry, “What’s the Matter.”
Students first logged different types of matter into liquids, gases and solids, and later investigated phase changes by adding or removing heat to them. “One of their favorites was making Oobleck, a liquid that possesses the properties of both liquids and solids,” recalls Grade 3 teacher Gillian Königer. These experiments inspired students to inquire further about the process of melting, freezing and evaporation, which as a parent I had trouble explaining.
At the end of the unit, Grade 3 students observed exactly how liquids turn to solids during an amazing demonstration with liquid nitrogen. Upper School science teachers
Rebekah Myers and Nichole Foster facilitated the demonstration using the liquid to manipulate objects such as roses and air-filled balloons. They even turned sweet cream into ice cream. The experience left the children with a lasting impression and scientific wonder about the relationship between liquids, solids and gasses.
Teachers at FIS are equipped with the knowledge to teach our children, the expertise to engage them and the patience to guide. The utopian cycle of learning at FIS maintains a delicate balance of intrigue and discipline while imparting knowledge as teachers rope in young minds with a story, an experience or a demonstration. Further encouraged by the twinkle of intrigue in students’ eyes, teachers – and parents – eagerly instruct pupils on the topic at hand. Knowledge is useless unless it’s shared, but FIS also works to integrate students’ newly-acquired knowledge and skills with their environment and planet as a whole.
Cavaris King, FIS Parent
October 2015 FIS World 15